Faulty gene doubles the risk of serious illnesses – naturopathy & naturopathic specialist portal

Twice the risk of a defective gene?

A defective gene associated with dementia appears to double the risk of COVID-19 becoming severe. This also applies to people who do not have any form of dementia.

A large-scale joint study by the University of Exeter Medical School and the University of Connecticut School of Medicine found that people of European descent who have two faulty copies of the so-called APOE gene carry twice the risk of severe COVID -19 disease. The results of the study were published in the English-language journal “Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences”.

European-born people generally at higher risk?

For their investigation, the researchers analyzed data from the UK biobank study, which includes the health data and genetic data of 500,000 people. They found an increased risk of severe COVID-19 disease among participants of European descent if they carried two faulty copies of the APOE gene (also known as e4e4).

Increased risk of heart disease and Alzheimer’s

One in 36 people of European descent have two faulty copies of this gene, the researchers report. It is already known that this increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by up to 14 times. In addition, the risk of heart disease increases significantly for affected people. The research group has now found that these gene mutations significantly increase the risks of COVID-19, even if humans have not developed any of the diseases mentioned above.

Possible explanations for increased risk of dementia

The team had previously found that people with dementia were three times more likely to develop severe COVID-19. However, part of the increased risk could be due to the increased spread of the virus in nursing homes, the researchers explain. However, the current study suggests that a genetic component could also be involved.

Doubled risk of serious COVID-19 diseases

The research group found that people with the APOE e4e4 genotype were twice as likely to develop severe COVID-19 disease compared to people with the widespread e3e3 form of the APOE gene.

Faulty gene rarely occurs

In the analysis, only 2.36 percent of the 382,188 participants with European ancestors had a faulty ApoE e4e4 gene. However, 5.13 percent of the people who tested positive for COVID-19 carried this gene variant. This indicates that the risk is twice as high compared to e3e3 (410 per 100,000 versus 179 per 100,000), reports the research group.

Improved treatment through new results

“This is an exciting result because we may now be able to find out how this faulty gene causes susceptibility to COVID-19,” says study author Dr. Chia-Ling Kuo of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine in a press release. The findings could lead to new forms of treatment.

Specific biological differences

In addition, the study shows again that increasing disease risks, which appear inevitable with aging, could actually be due to specific biological differences, the expert adds. This could help to understand why some people stay active up to the age of one hundred and beyond, while others suffer from disabilities and die at the age of sixty.

Conclusion of the study

“Several studies have now shown that people with dementia are at high risk of developing severe COVID-19. This study suggests that this high risk may not simply be due to the effects of dementia, advancing age, frailty, or exposure to the virus in nursing homes, ”reports research team leader Professor David Melzer. The effect could be partly due to the genetic predispositions found, which make people vulnerable to both COVID-19 and dementia, the expert explains. (as)